WSU data: $1.5 million in rent shifted away from Fairmount Towers

Revenue from rent at a privately built apartment complex on Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus will more than quadruple due to an influx of students from the closing of a university dorm.

The apartment complex, originally meant for upper-level students, will largely be home to freshmen, sophomores and transfer students in its first year.

University officials announced on July 14 they were closing Fairmount Towers, an aging dorm at 21st and Hillside, and moving its fall occupants to The Flats, a new fully-furnished apartment complex south of Eck Stadium and Mike Oatman Drive on the Innovation Campus.

Approximately 315 students prepaid to live in Fairmount by July 14. They were projected to pay $1.5 million in rent for the upcoming school year, according to WSU.

In contrast, 48 students had paid deposits by July 14 to live at The Flats. The projected rent revenue from those lessees was $361,080.

These figures were obtained by The Eagle through the Kansas Open Records Act.

Fairmount Towers students will pay the same rates at The Flats that they had expected to pay at the dorm.

Together, the students from Fairmount and the original lessees of The Flats will pay about $1.9 million in total for rent for the 2017-2018 academic year.

All housing charges will be paid directly to the university, according to WSU spokesman Joe Kleinsasser.

Some rent revenue could go to pay the university’s lease with MWCB, LLC, university officials previously told The Eagle. That’s a partnership of Wichita businessmen David Murfin, Nestor Weigand Jr., Ivan Crossland and Steve Barrett that developed The Flats.

An agreement between WSU, MWCB and The Flats will define how much the university will pay to lease space at The Flats. That was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents president and CEO on Monday.

About 207 students originally assigned to Fairmount Towers will be new attendees of the university, either as freshmen or transfer students. Another 68 are rising sophomores.

So The Flats will primarily be leased to freshmen, sophomores or transfer students. Less than 20 percent of beds will go to juniors, seniors and graduate students.

The Flats has 286 bedrooms spread across 112 apartments, ranging from one- to four-bedroom units. WSU’s data said The Flats could hold up to 564 students. That’s if the vast majority of bedrooms were doubled up.

The data provided to The Eagle was a “snapshot” of housing figures as of July 14, said David Moses, WSU’s general counsel. Students had through July 21 to cancel their contract with no penalty and a refunded prepayment and deposit.

Housing and Residence Life Director Scott Jensen wrote in an e-mail that four students, two in Fairmount Towers and two in The Flats, did that before the July 21 deadline.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 10:06 AM with the headline "WSU data: $1.5 million in rent shifted away from Fairmount Towers."